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PayPal Launches Virtual Debit Card
IpSo_ writes "You can now use PayPal via a Virtual Debit Card when making online purchases anywhere MasterCard is accepted. Basically it generates a virtual card number each time you make a transaction online so you don't have to use your personal debit or credit card number. Will people be more comfortable making online purchases with this, or will it flop because its too much of an inconvenience?"
Citibank says, "Been there, done that."
Smile did/do it.
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why is the rest of the world not keeping up?
Because I have very little use for one of these? My credit card already protects me from fraudulent charges and I'm not worried in the least if someone uses it two states away for gas. If Chase makes me call them when I'm going outside of my "home area" so they don't shut me off, then I'm not concerned if someone steals the card number after I make a purchase online at Newegg.
If someone uses the card locally, big deal. I call Chase and tell them that the card was stolen and the charge wasn't mine. Not many questions asked.
For *most* people, they just aren't paranoid enough to use a one time number for their purchases.
This is like PAM-OTP, which I like very much. One-Time-Passwords would be an awesome way to manage credit card purchases; like say, you need to be certified to handle a credit card, but you can withdraw X dollars max no matter who you are via a OTP. If this was implemented I could tell, say, Mastercard, "Generate 15 passwords for me: 5 $5, 5 $50, and 5 $100," and then use those to OTP out purchases. If I use a $100 password to buy a $75 item, $75 is charged and that password is invalid; if I try to use it to buy a $110 item, $100 is charged and I owe $10 to the seller.
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I've stopped using it though after a rather unpleasant incident where the online vendor (ETS) did not perform the transaction immediately, but instead waited for 2 working days to debit the amount. The one time card is not meant to last for that period of time (quite obviously, otherwise there would be little safety). The transaction was denied and I was charged an additional 20$. The nice folks at ETS refused to allow another GRE registration till I paid up the extra fee.
I'll stick to the normal credit card , particularly when the purchases are valuable.
I agree that paypal should be subject to laws. It is somewhat unsettling to think that there is little recourse should things go against my best interests. I have made hundreds of paypal transactions without problem, though. I continue to use it. The handful of boundary cases (not receiving an item, falsely accused of not sending an item) were all resolved in my favor, but I made sure to do everything properly. If you miss a deadline you are screwed. If you don't have proof of delivery you are screwed. From what I hear, sometimes for no discernable reason at all, you are screwed. It just hasn't happened to me yet.
It is a transition period in "internet banking." I predict that within 10 years there will be international regulation of this type of bank, and there will be various entities that provide this type of service. Normal banks will have to evolve or perish. So will paypal. I'd like there to be more options, but it is very difficult to reach critical mass at this point. It speaks volumes that Google will be lucky to get it's payment service off the ground.
Man, you really need that seminar!
In fairness, the throw-away credit card number part should be fairly decent as far as online shopping goes.
I used to have an actual credit card that had this feature (MBNA bank if anyone is interested, highly recomended.)
They had it where you could use the app on the webpage, or download what appeared to be a flash standalone app that did the same thing.
It would generate a credit card #, exp date (of your choosing, min 1 month in advance rounded to the end of that month) and the 3 digit code. You could also set a limit on that card.
Once it was charged to by someone, the number was locked to that vendor, and only they could make future charges to it.
You can also go in and shut it off at any time prior to the expiration.
The idea is, in the automated way a charge is made to the card, and even if it is stored, stolen, or sniffed along the way, anyone ELSE trying to use that number after the automated charge would get denied.
Also the store itself would get denied if it tried to charge over the limit, or past the expiration or when you disabled the number.
It was a feature I used quite alot.
The only downside here is the fact its PayPal and not a real bank. So kudos for them adding a good feature, but booo for them still being paypal and all the downsides that entails.
True. But everything else on the Internet is virtual too. But the money I made using PayPal when selling my products is real. I've had maybe 500 transactions via Paypal and they have not lost or stolen my money, ever. When I was starting out, PayPal allowed me to accept payments by credit card without having to spend $20+ a month on a merchant account. The PayPal fees were a little higher than CC merchant fees, but not having a monthly fee, and having built-in shipping services paid for itself. That way, I could print USPS First Class or UPS labels within PayPal without having to pay $16/mo to Pitney Bowes, Stamps.com or Endicia to do the same thing.
Frankly, I think the reports of PayPal ripping people off are blown out of proportion. I don't personally know of anyone that's had any problems with their account and I'm fairly happy with their system.
RE: Prepaid debit cards. From an anonymity standpoint, these seem almost ideal. Assuming you fund them with cash, they should be untraceable. I'm surprised there hasn't been a great hue and cry from US Homeland Security because there's no verifiable name attached to them, no SSAN, no driver's license number.
Are they usable on internet gambling sites? If not, is there a prepaid card that *is* usable?
Even conventional Visa/Mastercard business cards must have a person's name on them, not just the business name. These seem to get around that requirement too.
I am an avid ebayer - and lets face it, without Paypal, you're not going to get very far trading on ebay. So I use Paypal out of necessity (yeah, I know i'm sad) and yes, I feel sick just thinking about it!
Putting ridiculous fees, poor customer service, and numerous loop holes aside - I just don't trust them! From my experience, you are never actually 'covered' as they keep telling us, and when you do get bitten by a scammer - you may as well just bang your head against a brick wall instead of trying to get your money back from them!
I for one, would never CHOOSE to use them. They are another one of these big corporations who just don't care about the little people, but expect everyone to log on and happily give over all their credit card details.... and then charge them for the privilege.
http://www.paypalsucks.com/ anyone?
Without ebay, Paypal would come tumbling down in seconds. No wonder ebay are making excuses to block google payments and alike!
morehawes